Something Borrowed
by ExcellentDriver
Summary: She allowed her hands to travel down the silk fabric of the dress. It was perfect. Except it wasn't hers. S6 AU
1. Something Borrowed

**I know. I know.**

**This is not the update you wanted from me. **

**I knoooooow! **

**I swear I'm working on a new chapter for "The End of You and Me". **

**But I had this idea in my head since, well, since pretty much the Daredevil in the Mold, and I think some of you will not like it (it has Hannah! So, yeah, you've been warned). I just have always wondered if Booth would ever go with the wedding if Hannah's answer to his proposal had been yes, and that is how this story was born**.

**(and sorry if it goes a little OOC, I know some Brennan stuff here is not Brennan-y hahaha)**

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She allowed her hands to travel down the silk fabric of the dress. It was so soft and white, the whitest dress she'd ever seen. Lifting her eyes, she met her figure once again in the full size mirror hanging on the wall in front of her. It was beautiful. Despite her constant argumentations about all the reasons one should not get married and the fact she didn't think she should ever get married in a white dress – it's been long since she lost her virginity - she could not deny that she felt incredible in this dress. It was a strapless model, hugging her upper body tightly and enhancing her curves, falling loose along her legs. Classic. It was not frivolous nor one of those dresses inspired in fairytales.

It was perfect.

Except it wasn't hers.

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It wasn't like her not to answer her phone. For the past half an hour, Booth had been trying to call his partner without succeeding. Out of range, it said. The squints had identified the victim and he wanted Bones to come with him to talk with the victim's husband. Things have been awkward with them since her breakdown in his car, and they only seemed to get a little worse since his latest announcement. But he missed his partner, and those moments on the road to a crime scene or to interview a suspect seemed like the only moments they spent together anymore. _Maybe it is better this way_, he often told himself. Maybe it would be easier for both of them to go on with their lives if they kept this distance. He made a choice, and he should stand by it. Even though it broke his heart sometimes to know that she was back to working extremely late hours and constantly skipping meals.

But it wasn't his problem anymore.

She wasn't his problem anymore.

_He had made a choice._

It had been months since he stepped foot at the lab, and Angela was surprised to find him there that afternoon. She told him Brennan went out shopping, which shocked him a little. Dr. Temperance Brennan didn't go out shopping in the middle of the afternoon on a working day, especially when they are in the middle of a case. But then he remembered a conversation he had that morning, and suddenly he knew where to find her.

The drive to the bridal shop was short, and he found himself inside the store before long. It smelled like roses, it had wedding dresses everywhere and Booth felt completely out of place. _Where was his partner?_

"Bones?" He tried, hoping to find her quickly so he could get out of that place.

The sound of movement brought his attention to the fitting room in the back of the store and he started walking towards it, only to stop on his tracks once he saw the figure wearing what had to be the most gorgeous dress he'd ever seen.

He forgot how to breathe.

She looked like a dark-haired angel.

His eyes traveled up and down her body, lingering for a while in the heart-shaped neckline that made her breasts look sinfully perfect. The white in the dress that was supposed to make her look dull, fighting with her pale skin for attention, had the opposite effect and she looked like she was shining.

She didn't see him coming to the fitting room, and she was looking so intensely at her image at the mirror that Booth was pretty sure the whole hockey team could have gotten in here that she would not have noticed them.

She was perfect. That dress was perfect, it fitted her so incredibly well that it was like it was made for her, only her.

His heart swelled inside his chest, imagining her walking down the aisle, with a smile on her face, holding a bouquet of her favorite flower.

"Sir, you're not supposed to come in here!" An annoyed voice snapped him out of his daydreams.

"Booth?" Brennan turned around to face him, surprise obvious in her eyes, and God help him, she looked even better facing him than her image in the mirror did.

"Bones." He found his voice.

"What are you doing here?" Brennan narrowed her eyes, her heart beating faster after being busted by her partner.

"I've been trying to call you for almost an hour, the squints got us an ID on the victim." He tried to pull on his best professional tone, which was very hard with her standing there in that dress.

"Oh." She stepped out of the little platform and reached for her purse. "There's no signal inside the store. How did you know where I was?"

"I went to the lab and Angela said you were shopping. Then I remembered Hannah told me this morning that you'd come with her to try the wedding dresses so I put two and two together…" Hannah. _Wasn't his fiancée supposed to be here too?_

"She got a call from her editor when we got here, the president decide to make a surprise announcement and they needed her at the White House immediately." She explained before he had the chance to ask.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but you really can't stay in here." The middle-aged woman who startled him earlier spoke again, placing the dresses she was carrying on a chair nearby. She took a look at Brennan and smiled. "Doesn't she look like an angel?"

He was speechless. What could he say?

"She looks like a dream." The words left his mouth before he realized what he was saying.

"I outdid myself with that one." The woman said proudly, not caring a bit about modesty. "Although, with a woman beautiful as she is, it's not that difficult." Then, remembering she shouldn't be talking with the man in her fitting room, she creased her forehead. "Don't you know it's bad luck to see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding?"

"She is not my-"

"You know this dress isn't for me, Mrs. Lin." Brennan rolled her eyes. "My friend asked me to try it on to see if it fit since we are the same size."

"But it should be yours." Mrs. Lin pursed her lips.

"I'm not getting married." Brennan said bluntly. "I don't need a wedding dress."

"Nonsense." Mrs. Lin snorted. "By the look in your boyfriend's face, he agrees with me."

"He… he is not my boyfriend."

"Oh, really?" Mrs. Lin crocked her head to the size, staring at Booth. "I've been in this business for decades, dear, and I know a man in love when I see one. And the way this guy was looking at you when I walked in here…" She pointed her thumb at Booth. "…He was picturing you walking down the aisle, the house with the white fences and the children laughing at the backyard while he cooked barbecue and you made him his favorite dessert. The way he looked at you, with so much love and adoration, it's rare. You shouldn't waste it."

Booth felt all his blood running up his face. What was that woman saying? He was about to marry another woman in two weeks. He loved Hannah. She made him happy. It was the right choice.

_Wasn't it?_

"Agent Booth is my partner." Brennan said, since he couldn't say anything. "We work together, that's all."

"Well, that's a shame." She shot them a look of disbelief and then shrugged. "You'd make some beautiful children."

This was too much.

"Booth, you can wait outside. I'll meet you in ten minutes and we can discuss the case." Brennan said, wanting to end this more than she'd ever wanted anything in her life. "Mrs. Lin, I'm taking the emerald dress."

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He was nervous. He was sweating under his tux, even though it was 35 degrees outside. He tried to knot his bowtie, but it ended up crocked on the side.

He sighed.

He was getting married in a few minutes and he couldn't even knot his tie correctly.

"Booth? Are you ready?" Brennan popped her head inside his room. "Hannah is here already."

_No, I'm not ready, _he wanted to say.

"I can't knot this damn tie." He groaned in frustration.

Cold feet. _It was normal to feel a little unsteady on your wedding day, wasn't it?_

He was doing the right thing.

He loved Hannah.

"Let me help you." Brennan entered the room, shutting the door behind her.

She was wearing the emerald dress she chose that day in the bridal shop, two weeks prior. Hannah asked her to be her maid of honor, she didn't have any family in DC – or anywhere else, if she was being honest - and Brennan had been her closest friend since she got in Washington. Booth only found out about it after she had asked his partner already, if he knew it before, he'd try to find a way to change her mind. He could imagine how hard it was going to be for Brennan to be in that place. But she said yes, she accepted the honor, and now she was here, perfectly dressed for the occasion, her chestnut hair hanging loose in waves framing her face, the green of her dress making her eyes look even more striking blue.

Brennan was in front of him before he realized she'd walked across the room already, her hands working on his bowtie with an easy that made it seems like she did that everyday.

She was standing very close to him, so close that he could smell her sweet perfume and hear her breathing. Her knuckles stroked his neck when she was finishing the bow, and both of them froze at the touch. He gulped when she met his eyes.

_Why did she have to be the most stunning woman he'd ever seen?_

_Why couldn't she be the ugly, old scientist with thick glasses he thought she would be?_

_Why did she make his heart beat in a way Hannah was never able to make?_

Suddenly he felt he was back at that room at the Jeffersonian, during the party the Egyptians threw for Brennan for changing their history. Her face was only a few inches away from his, if he only-

"We have to go. The ceremony is about to start." She broke the spell, always the sane one. "I believe it's acceptable for the bride to be late, but I don't think it would be nice if you are the tardy one."

"Bones…"

"Hannah is an incredible woman, Booth. She's smart, funny and she's very beautiful. You made a good choice." She smiled, but he saw the sadness in her eyes. She dropped her hands to her sides and he immediately missed the contact. "She will make you happy. That's all I want for you… I want you to be happy."

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He stood there at the altar feeling every bit as nervous as he did at the room a while ago. Sweets was standing next to him, for once looking completely oblivious to what was happening.

He was panicking.

His entire life he had waited for this moment. His wedding day. He never talked about it with anyone, it was a girl thing to think about her wedding day, guys didn't do that. But ever since he was a boy, growing up with that bastard of a father, he dreamed of the day he'd have his own family, one that would be completely different from the one he had to grow up in. There would be no beating and screams and cries in their home, only love and laughter. His world crashed when Rebecca turned him down after he proposed to her when they found out she was pregnant, his dreams of the perfect happy family going down the drain with her "no". He thought he might finally have something like that with Brennan, but she shut him off before they even got the chance to see how it was to be together. When Hannah said yes, he was so relieved. Someone finally _wanted_ him.

But now, watching her walking down that aisle, in that white dress, _Bones' dress, _he knew he had made a mistake. Especially after he glanced at his partner and saw her grabbing the bouquet in her hands so tightly her knuckles turned white.

He could not marry Hannah.

Not with Brennan here, looking at them with those big blue eyes covered in unshed tears and a smile plastered in her face, as if she was trying to convince him she was okay. But he knew she was not okay.

He was not okay.

He could not marry Hannah because he was still in love with his partner. He'd always be in love with his partner, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself and the world that he had moved on.

It was unfair to Hannah, she was an incredible woman, she deserved way more than a man with half a heart left could give her. And it was unfair to him, too.

But how could he say he changed his mind about the wedding now?

All their friends were reunited in here. She went and bought a white dress, even though he knew she didn't like the idea that much and was only doing it because she knew it would make him happy. That woman changed her life to be with him, she left a job she loved to come live with him.

Once he thought there was nothing worse than having his heart broken, but now he was pretty sure it was just as bad to break someone's heart. Of course, he had a glimpse of that that day with Bones in his SUV after the Eames case. His heart broke along with hers when she burst into tears in his passenger's seat. But not once that night she told him she loved him, or that she wanted to be with him now. He would have to break up with Hannah at their wedding day, _during_ the wedding. _What kind of person did that?_

Hannah stopped in front of him, extending her hand waiting for him to take it and walk her up to the altar. She smiled at him so sweetly he wanted to cry.

He took her hands in his, both of them.

He had to end this before it was too late.

"Hannah." His voice come out in a desperate whisper and his head dropped, unable to face her. He felt her freezing, a flash of knowledge passing through her eyes when he had the courage to look up at her again. _She knew_. She was a journalist. A hell of a good one. They didn't give Pulitzers to everyone who wrote a paper. He suddenly felt like the worst man in the world for doing this to her. But it was better now than later, after they hurt her even more. She deserved better than him. "I'm… I'm so sorry." He closed his eyes, holding back his own tears. "I can't."

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**I intended to leave this a one-shot, but I might have some ideas for a follow-up chapter, if anyone is interested.**

**On other news, BONES IS BACK IN 6 DAYS!**


	2. Something New

**Wow. I was honestly not expecting a big response to this one-shot, you guys really surprised me! Thanks for all the reviews! **

**As promised, here is the follow-up. I hope you enjoy it! I really liked writing this one. :)**

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She found him in the room they left only an hour ago after she fixed his tie. He was sitting on the couch, his jacket long gone and the shirt's sleeves' buttons unfastened. His elbows were resting on his knees, his head dropped in his hands.

"Booth?" She asked him carefully.

He froze, surprised that he was not alone anymore. He didn't want to see anyone right now. Especially not her. _What was she thinking of him now? _

He raised his head, shot a glance at her, and dropped his head on the back of the couch, rubbing his face.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk." Brennan said softly. "I surely am not good soothing people, I can never find the right words to say… being a best-selling author doesn't actually help in this situations, it's very different writing words and speaking them…" Noticing she started rambling, she went straight to the point. "I think Hannah went to the apartment to gather her things, Angela escorted her. I think neither of you would take pleasure facing each other again tonight."

His eyes were on her now, curious as what she had to say.

"I have a guest room in my apartment." She said. "And an excellent bottle of scotch."

When he didn't say anything, she continued.

"I think you could make good use of it." She looked at him. "I promise I won't bother you."

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He woke up with a big headache in the familiar guest room. He hadn't been there in over a year, but it hadn't change much since the last time he crashed down in Brennan's place. The room smelled like lavender and Bones and it soothed him a little.

He hadn't said a word last night. Not when they walked to her car, not when she drove him to her apartment, not when she gave him a change of clothes that belonged to him he did not know she still had at her place, probably from one of the times he went to her pool with Parker. She kept her word and didn't bother him, leaving him alone in the guest room after telling him to call her if he needed anything.

He didn't.

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She was making coffee when he got to the kitchen, it was Sunday morning and they weren't in the middle of any case right now, so she didn't have to worry about work. Brennan was wearing a pair of black yoga pants and a light blue tank top, humming softly to herself a pop song tune Booth had no idea she knew about. The familiarity and intimacy of the setting made him long for something he never had, something he still thought he would never have.

Despite feeling awful for what he did to Hannah, looking at Brennan like that, so at easy at her apartment, cooking them breakfast and waiting for him to wake up made him feel so light and relieved.

He did the right thing.

"'Morning." He greeted her, smiling shyly. That was the first word he'd spoken since she went to find him the night before after he talked with his ex-fiancée.

Brennan almost dropped the spoon she was using to mix the pancake dough, she was not expecting him to wake up before noon.

"Booth!" She turned around. Gone was the make up and fancy hairdo she had at the wedding that didn't happen, and standing there in front of him barefaced and in plain clothes, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. "You're awake."

"Do you need help?" He offered, walking closer to her before waiting for an answer.

"It's okay, I'm making us some pancakes." She suddenly remembered the bottle of old scotch she left on the guest room and wondered if he would be able to stomach eating anything at all. "How are you feeling?"

"If you're asking if I'm hungover, I've had much worse." He shrugged and automatically went to cabinet under the sink, where he knew she kept her frying pan. "If you are asking about everything that happened last night… I'm still feeling like crap."

"I'm sorry." She said sincerely and took the pan he handed her.

"Me too."

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"I forgot how good of a cook you are, Bones." Booth smiled for the first time that morning. "And you actually got nutella for me! I never thought I'd find this little precious in your kitchen."

She gave him a side eye. "Hayley and Emma are very picky with their food and they seem to enjoy hazelnut spread very much, so I try to have it stocked for the times they come to visit."

"Just admit it, Bones, you love it too." He teased. "The health police will not show up in here just because you like nutella, you know. It's more of a crime _not_ to like nutella."

She furrowed her eyebrows and took another piece of her pancake, admitting nothing. "Angela said it's a great medicine to heal a broken heart." She sipped her cup of coffee. "Metaphorically, of course, since a heart can't actually break and the nutella is obviously not a medicine, having only sugar, vegetable oils, skimmed milk, hazel nut and cocoa solids-" She stopped when she noticed the little grin on his face. "I'm rambling."

"Thanks, Bones."

"For the nutella?"

"Yeah." He looked straight at her, now serious. "And you know, for everything else too."

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"I made a mistake." His sudden words startled her. They were sitting on her couch, he was pretending to read an old magazine while she pretended to check her e-mails from her editor, keeping as much distance from each other as they managed.

"I believe it's not uncommon to experience frozen feet on your wedding day." She took her eyes off her laptop screen to look at him. "You should talk to Hannah, I'm certain she will understand if you-"

"Cold feet. It's cold feet." He gave a little chuckle. He didn't want her to ever change. "And no, I didn't mean I made a mistake calling off the wedding."

"Then what?" She asked, now curious.

"Proposing to Hannah." He sighed. "I shouldn't have proposed to her in the first place."

"Why not?" She arched one eyebrow. "You were very much in love with her. You were always saying that."

He laughed sadly, shaking his head.

"She took it very well, you know. Last night. You'd expect her to cry, but she didn't. All she did was look at me sadly and say that she should have seen it. That she had been so stupid and blind." He rubbed his face. "She said that the truth had been out there in her face all the time, but she chose not to look at it. That she chose to pretend it wasn't there because our life seemed so good and easy."

"What truth?"

"That I am still in love with my partner." He looked at her with a sad smile.

Brennan's eyes opened widely. "What? No- you, you are not in love with me. You told me that, did you tell her that? Did you tell her that she was wrong?"

"No." He said simply.

"Why not? Booth!" She closed her laptop and placed it on the coffee table.

"Because she was right! She was right, Bones."

"No… you are not in love with me. You moved on. You love Hannah. You told me that countless times in these past months."

"I did, right?" He put the magazine aside. "And yes, I did love Hannah. But I don't think I was ever in love with her." He felt so free now saying those things out loud. "I couldn't, Bones, because I never stopped loving you. I never really fell out of love with you"

"But you told me you moved on." She looked at him lost, looking very much like a confused little girl. "You said I would too."

"I told you I adjusted. I never said I moved on." He took one of her hands in his. "Nor did I ever tell you that I didn't love you."

"You do?" She asked in a small voice. "Love me?"

"Yes, Bones. With all my heart." He chuckled softly, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. Did he really never say those words to her out loud before? "It was easy to adjust when I was thousands of miles away from you, away from all the things that reminded me of you and why I loved you so much. But then when we got back here… and I had to see you every day… it wasn't easy anymore. I guess I just freaked out. Hannah came here and changed her life to be with me, and then the next day you tell me you regret that night outside the Hoover, but you never told me you loved me either. So, I think I just did the first thing that came to my mind that I thought was right, and I proposed to her."

"I do." She said so lowly he almost thought he'd imagined it.

"What?"

"I love you." She finally said the words, staring straight at him. For a moment, Booth felt the world stop moving and all he could do was stare back at her, the woman he loved more than any other in the world, telling him she loved him. "You said I never said the words, Booth, but I do. I love you very much."

He pulled her in a hug, because he needed to feel her close to him more than anything. She didn't resist the embrace, and soon her head was resting between his shoulder and his neck.

"I'm sorry, Bones." He held her a little tighter. "I was so stupid. I shouldn't have proposed to Hannah, and I shouldn't have waited until last night to call off the wedding."

"Good timing is not your strongest suit, Booth." She chuckled. "Or mine, for the matter."

"Do you think we'll ever get there at the same time, Bones?"

"I don't know." She said. "I hope we will. We are here now."

"I just need time, you know. Just a little time to hang back and find that inner peace before I get back out there and, you know…"

"I can wait." She said softly, playing with the edge of his shirt. She thought she had lost him, she had given him up because she thought he had found his happiness with someone else. But now he was here, only asking her for some time. She could give him time.

"Yeah?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Well, as long as it doesn't take, you know, years." She was quiet for a while. "I still want that baby." She admitted in a whisper.

Instead of feeling shocked with that admission, he couldn't help but laugh and wonder how did it take him so long to admit there was no way he'd be happy with anyone else but this woman.

"You do?" He teased her a little, picturing a little girl just like her and suddenly wanting to send everything down to hell and just kiss her and take her to her bedroom and love her and give her everything she wanted. But he couldn't do that, it wouldn't be fair to her or Hannah. He wanted to make things different this time, he wanted to make them right.

"Yes. I'm not saying I want a baby right now, but I'm 34, it's not like I still have a lot of years to spare." She pursed her lips. "Assuming it might take years for you to find your inner peace."

"It won't take years, Bones. I promise you." He planted a kiss on the top of head, smiling and feeling better than he did in months. "And I want that baby too."

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It took him two months. Not that they were counting. After that fatidic week, they went back to their old routine and before they knew it, they were eating takeout late at night while doing paperwork and sometimes they went out to have dinner at some fancy restaurant just because they wanted to. They went to the movies and shared a bowl of popcorn and Booth teased her that she wasn't leaving any popcorn for him. She said he was the one eating everything and that maybe next time they should buy two separate bowls of popcorn so they wouldn't have that problem. They didn't. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned her head on his chest while they were watching a movie. Brennan asked him to accompany her to her publisher's party and they danced together and laughed and had an amazing night.

One day, when he was dropping her off at her place after a long day wrapping up a case, she invited him to come up so she could show him her brand new flat screen television, and said that maybe they could even watch a movie to debut it, if he didn't have other plans for the night.

He didn't.

Neither of them paid much attention to the movie, something about a dream within a dream, and sometime halfway through the movie he looked at her and he just knew.

He was ready and she was ready.

She wasn't surprised when he leaned in and kissed her. He wasn't surprised that they forgot everything about the movie and the new TV and that she invited him to her bedroom. They were not surprised when that turned out to be the most amazing night of their lives.

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Christine Angela Booth was born a week before the almost wedding anniversary and both of her parents couldn't be any happier with her arrival. They didn't expect the pregnancy to happen so quickly, but Booth told Brennan they could not fight against fate.

She told him that she still didn't believe in fate.

He told her that he still did.

But they didn't turn it into an argument, they were both still very much in bliss with the news to spoil it with bickering.

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He loved watching her with their baby girl. Some would be surprised to find out that Dr. Temperance Brennan was a very loving and warm mother. But not Booth, he knew for a long time how big her heart was and how much she cared for other people. It couldn't be any different with their daughter.

Christine was the spitting image of her mother, even though Brennan insisted she had his eyes, despite the blue coloring. He didn't argue. He liked that she could see him in their child.

He didn't ask her to marry him. He wanted to, of course. But it wasn't a very important thing right now. He was pretty sure she still hadn't changed her mind about the subject and honestly, he didn't care. He already had more than he ever wanted.

He had never been happier in his life than he was at this moment with their family. They had bought a house and they lived together raising their daughter. His son came over to visit very often and he adored his little sister. He and Brennan had always gotten along pretty well, and the boy was thrilled when he found out they finally got together. The FBI didn't try to sever their partnership when they found out they were now in a romantic relationship, they wouldn't risk losing their best team. Besides, Brennan said she wouldn't work with anyone else so, they didn't have much choice in that matter.

But the most important thing was that they loved each other. They didn't have to say it all the time, it was there in their every day actions, it was in their eyes when they looked at each other and smiled.

Maybe one day Brennan would change her mind about marriage and propose to him herself.

He'd say yes.

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**Reviews are always welcome. :)**

**BONES IS BACK IN 4 DAYS!**

**p.s: About Brennan and the pancakes, I didn't buy that The Partners in the Divorce thing that Brennan did not know how to cook and learned how to make breakfast working as a fry cook while on the run. Evidence during the past seasons shows that, in fact, she's a very good cook.**


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